Should we spend less on food?

For those who have the luxury of debating the question, Laura at the (not so) Urban Hennery took an interesting look at it here. After a painful visit to the store to stock up on staples, she noted:

As a country we spend less on food as a percent of income than almost any other First World society. We’ve pushed producers decade after decade to make food cheaper, and by consequence traded quality and variety for empty calories. And while I understand that there are many families that have, and will have, no choice but to feed themselves on as little as possible, the rest of us still have a choice.

We can choose to give up other wants instead, like our cable and our expensive cell phone plans, our lattes and takeout, we can turn the heat down a couple of degrees. We can continue to make quality food using seasonal ingredients from local, sustainable farmers a priority.

If we need to reduce our out-of-pocket costs, we can learn to use meat for flavor instead of the headline and learn to like squash; we can make simpler meals with quality ingredients;we can learn to cook. And we can find ways to do that while still choosing food that fits our values and belief in sustainability.

Is that a controversial thing to say? That we should prioritize the food we’re feeding our families over the luxuries we’ve come to take for granted?